Photographer protests at exhibition 'censorship'

A Bangladeshi-British photographer is complaining that her work has been censored by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. A documentary work made in Bangladesh by Syra Miah and shown as part of the museum's Art and Islam exhibitions was removed because it contained an image of a semi-naked woman.

The museum said it had been advised some days after the show opened to the public on July 8 that the image could offend a Muslim audience. However, Ms Miah, 29, rejected the suggestion. The image had not been mentioned by visitors in the museum's comments book, on its website, or indeed by her own family, "who are very conservative", she said.

"I felt that the whole message behind my show had been undermined by this censorship," she said. "During the editing process the curators seemed to want images in the exhibition that portrayed Bangladesh as another colourful Asian country. Sadly, the removal of this image, the only image in the show that could be interpreted as gritty, confirmed my growing cynical view that the museum wanted to perpetuate a myth about Muslim societies: that nudity isn't tolerated. In Bangladeshi society - at least the one I witnessed - it clearly is.

"The partially dressed figure in the image was actually a mentally ill woman who had made a home of a bus shelter. She was looked after by locals who made sure she was out of danger and fed. I think this shows a compassionate view of Islamic society."

The museum said it had acted on a complaint from a member of the Muslim arts group Artists Circle. Rita McLean, the museum's acting head of museums and heritage projects, said in a statement: "The complaint we received was taken very seriously and it was after much consideration that the decision to remove the work from the exhibition was taken with the full agreement of the artist." However, Ms Miah said she was not consulted and could have clarified the meaning and context of the image if asked.

An email about the decision from the museum's Melissa Strauss to Ms Miah also said the work might hinder the institution's attempts to increase its audiences. "The Art and Islam programme is about showcasing artists whose work is inspired by Muslim cultures in some way, but we are also aiming to reach new audiences through the programme," she wrote. "This complaint has come from our target audience, and also a member of one of our main stakeholder groups."